“Spider-Spinning” Technique May Produce New Organs

BBC News reports that a new engineering technique resembling spider spinning could be a promising tool in the construction of organs. In this technique, cells are combined with a polymer and ejected as fibers into a weblike pattern while the machine is submerged in a nourishing medium for the cells. This defers from previous techniques that first create a polymer pattern and then implant cells to grow on this scaffold. So far, the spinning technique has been used to create new blood vessels. The hope is that it will be able to be used for the production of patches that could replace damaged parts of organs.